Tudor Queens of England (35 page)

pose.10 So God had int
ended her to succeed to the Crown, but God had also created her as a woman with all that it implied in contemporary perceptions. On the one hand, executive responsibility was now hers – given directly by God – but on the other hand she was naturally created to be ruled by men. There is no evidence that Mary pondered these matters deeply but her instincts did sometimes lead her in contradictory directions. On the one hand she told her council and the Imperial ambassadors that she intended to restore the Pope’s authority; on the other hand she issued a conciliatory proclamation, indicating her intention to make a religious settlement in Parliament, as both her father and her brother had done.
11
When her much admired kinsman, Reginald, Cardinal Pole, wrote to warn her against repealing statutes that had been
ultra
vires
in their creation, she paid no attention. At fi rst, this worked well enough, and corresponded with the general expectation. Her fi rst parliament repealed 192

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Edward’s ecclesiastical statutes, and returned the Church to the situation that King Henry had left, with the mass and all the traditional ceremonies back in place but still subject to the Royal Supremacy. ‘The Queen’s Godly proceedings’, as they were known in conservative circles, were widely popular

.12
Leading Protestants were either arrested or fl ed into exile and the Queen clearly won this round by a large points margin.

With her council she was less successful, largely because her experience of affairs was confi ned to running a private estate. Despite having been close to the politics of her brother’s reign, she had no executive training whatsoever, both because of her gender and because of her religious stand. Her fi rst and most natural instinct was to cling to those whom she knew and trusted – men like her controller, Robert Rochester, or Sir Francis Englefi eld, and they formed her initial Privy Council, which met for the fi rst time on 8 July. Unfortunately, although the loyalty and Catholicism of these men was exemplary, they had no more experience of high politics than their mistress. In short, they were quite unsuited to be a monarch’s council. To her credit, Mary realized this quite well and knew that she would have to recruit from among the experienced councillors who had only recently signed a letter urging obedience to Queen Jane. She did this pragmatically, and roughly in accordance with the speed with which they had abandoned Northumberland when the tide turned against him. By the time that she reached London, therefore, she already had a large and heterogeneous council, to which she then added three victims of the previous regime, Stephen Gardiner, the Duke of Norfolk and Cuthbert Tunstall. Gardiner was a valuable acquisition, who rapidly became Lord Chancellor, but the other two were very elderly, and were recruited largely for nostalgic reasons. By the end of August, her Council numbered nearly 50 and she had in effect gone back to the older, more amorphous type of council that had preceded the reforms of 1540. This was a retrograde step in every sense of that word. What she should have done at this stage was to drop most (if not all) of the ‘Framlingham’ council – and never appoint Tunstall and Norfolk. However her affection for councillors such as Rochester and Englefi eld was out of proportion to their usefulness and what happened was that the council broke up into ‘factions’, with the old councillors accusing the new of disloyalty, and the new accusing the old of being out of touch.

Added to this problem was the fact that the Queen never really trusted her new councillors, who were without exception compromised by their support for the regimes of either Edward or the later Henry. Even Stephen Gardiner, despite his exalted position and his opposition to Edward, was contaminated by his earlier support for the royal supremacy. Whether this lack of trust was in

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any way connected with her gender is uncertain – a man might have behaved similarly – but it was seen at the time as female indecision and emotionalism. This lack of confi dence was immediately accentuated by the debate over the Queen’s marriage. Had Mary been a king this would have been an important but essentially secondary issue, mainly inspired by considerations of the foreign policy implications of any such match. However, because she was a woman, it became an intense debate over who was fi t to wear the Crown Matrimonial and share the government with her. The Queen was 37 and if there was to be a child of the marriage it would have to happen very soon. That was the purpose that was in the front of everyone’s mind (including Mary’s) but it was not the only concern. England had never had a King Consort before, and there was great uncertainly over what the role would entail. The Queen was not only concerned to fi nd an agreeable companion (and one who would get her pregnant) but also to have ‘a man about the realm’. So much of the traditional imagery of monarchy was male and military, she felt that she needed someone to discharge that function. There was also the question of protection, not just of her person but also of her kingdom. She needed a prince with power and connections of his own. Unfortunately that ran directly counter to her very keen sense that God had entrusted the realm of England to her – and to her alone. All these problems were to become apparent in due course. First it was necessary to look at the possibilities, and it was in this connection that Mary made her fi rst serious mistake. Many years before, when she had been under severe pressure from her father, the Emperor Charles V (who was also her cousin) had been her champion. At that time she had declared that he was her true father and that she would never marry without his advice. This insult to Henry VIII had been overtaken by events and in any case he was no longer around to dictate. So she remembered her promise and consulted Charles through his ambassador, Simon Renard. Charles in turn remembered that they had once been betrothed but he was now, he declared, too old for such an adventure. His son Philip, on the other hand, was by happy chance a widower

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y comparison, the other candidates were non-starters. There was Dom Luis, the brother of the King of Portugal (who had been considered before) but the Emperor successfully blocked his candidature. There was Edward Courtenay, now Earl of Devon. Courtenay was the domestic candidate, and attracted much infl uential backing, but he was a foolish and irresponsible young man who had spent most of his youth in the Tower. That was no fault of his, but it had left him seriously inexperienced in life and there is no evidence that Mary ever seriously considered marrying him. That left Philip and, of course, Simon Renard. Renard was an ingratiating fellow with an agenda of his own, and because of the sensitive nature of the issue that he was 194

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discussing, soon won an exclusive place in Mary’s confi dence. He dominated the negotiations, to the virtual exclusion of the Council, and that caused considerable resentment. His confi dential relationship with the Queen was unprecedented and should never have been allowed to arise. Mary should never have committed her choice of husband to the arbitrament of any outside party and should never have admitted Renard to the confi dences that he enjoyed.

When the matter came into the open there were protests. Parliament petitioned her in November to marry within the realm and was brusquely told to mind its own business. In January 1554 there was a briefl y dangerous rebellion in Kent, led by Sir Thomas Wyatt, which demanded that she change her mind. It was suppressed but the sentiment lingered on. In the event, the Emperor’s keenness on the match worked very much in England’s favour. Charles was not much interested in England but marrying its Queen would give Philip an ideal power base from which to fi ght off rival claims to the Low Countries when Charles himself either retired or died. He was planning retirement and was mindful of the fact that he had gerrymandered the Imperial constitution in order to settle the succession of the Netherlands on Philip, who would in addition receive Spain – but not the Holy Roman Empire.

14
In other words there were issues about the Low Countries that the English marriage would resolve. He was therefore inclined to be generous with concessions when it came to defi ning the role of the King Consort. The draft articles, drawn up on 7 December, ran: Prince Philip shall so long as the matrimony endures, enjoy jointly with the Queen her style and kingly name, and shall aid her in her administration. The prince shall leave to the Queen the disposition of all offi ces, lands and revenues of their dominions; they shall be disposed to those born there. All matters shall be treated in English … There may be made another contract, wherein the prince shall swear he will not promote to any offi ce in England any foreigner … If no children are left, and the Queen dies before him, he shall not challenge any right in the kingdom, but permit the succession to come to them to whom it shall belong by right and law … England shall not be entangled in the war between the Emperor and the French K
ing …15

There was a lot more in the same vein, making provision for dower and for any children of the marriage but these are the essential limitations that Charles was willing to accept on his son’s behalf in order to secure the title of King. When he found out about them, Philip was not amused. This was not at all the kind of kingship that he had envisaged – in fact it was downright dishonourable. He considered abandoning the whole project, but then refl ected that once he was established in England there might be ways around the various obstacles in his path – a suspicion that had also occurred to some of the English – so he accepted

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the treaty with an apparently good grace. At the same time he entered a secret reservation, declaring that he had only signed the terms to enable his marriage to take place – and that he had no intention of observing them! Fortunately the English did not fi nd out about that.

16

The treaty was duly concluded in January 1554, proclaimed, and in due course ratifi ed by Parliament. This last step was unprecedented in respect of a royal marriage but then the circumstances were also unprecedented. Meanwhile, treaty or no treaty, there was a legal ambiguity to be resolved. By English law a married woman (or

femme couvert
) surrendered her property on marriage to her husband, in whom it remained vested for the duration of his life. Did the same apply to the Crown, and if so, where did that leave the marriage treaty? It was generally assumed that the law did not apply to the Crown but the issue was open to dispute. Again, resort was had to statute, and when Parliament reconvened on 2 April an Act was passed declaring that the Imperial powers of the Crown of England were the same, whether vested in male of female. In other words the Queen was also K
ing and no legal or other gender limitations applied.17

Meanwhile, Philip appeared to be sulking. His formal betrothal to Mary took place in March but he was represented by his father’s servant the Count of Egmont and he sent neither message nor token. Nor did he communicate the reason for his delays to Simon Renard, who was left jumping up and down with frustration and rapidly running out of excuses. In fact he seems to have had genuine diffi culties, both in settling the government of Spain (where he was regent) and in raising the money that Charles insisted that he bring with him to pay the northern armies, but none of this was explained. Eventually, in early June, he set off from Valladolid on his leisurely way towards La Coruna, and as soon as word of this reached England, a group of English nobles set off to meet him – arriving in Galicia before he did. Philip’s English household was assembled at Southampton to meet him and the Queen travelled to Bishop’s Waltham in Hampshire, where Philip’s harbinger, the Marquis de las Navas, found her early in July. He bore the long-expected token from her betrothed, a magnifi cent table diamond

18
and, although the household at Southampton was getting restive, the long period of waiting was almost over.

On 20 July he landed at Southampton, was honourably received and girded with the Order of the Garter. He then made his way to Winchester where the Dean’s lodging had been prepared to receive him. The Queen meanwhile had moved into the Bishop’s palace, a distinction of status that was not lost upon the Prince’s vigilant entourage. The couple met for the fi rst time the same evening, and Mary’s feelings can only be imagined. She was on the brink of a political and sexual encounter that should, by the normal rules of royal marriage, have 196

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occurred at least 20 years earlier. We are told that both were magnifi cently attired and honourably accompanied and that they greeted each other affectionately and ‘chatted pleasantly’

.19 The whole thing was car
efully staged for what would now be called ‘the world’s press’, and their real feelings are unknown. It is not even known what language they used for their pleasant chat. Mary understood Spanish but spoke it very hesitantly while Philip’s French was in the same state. He (of course) spoke no English so perhaps they used Latin, in which both were fl uent. The marriage duly took place on St James’s day, 25 July, in Winchester cathedral. The day was chosen as a careful compliment to the bridegroom, whose nose was otherwise put comprehensively out of joint. During the ceremony his seat was placed lower than hers and he stood on her left, which would normally have been the bride’s position. The royal sword was only borne before him after the wedding and his jealous servants claimed that even at the wedding banquet he was served from silver while the Queen was served from gold.
20
Nevertheless he was duly recognized as King of England when their elaborate titles were proclaimed and the crowd outside the cathedral gave him an unexpectedly warm reception, noting particularly how affectionate his demeanour towards his new wife appeared to be. The whole symbolism of the occasion had been designed to emphasize that Philip’s status in England depended upon his wife, but that was virtually ignored in the spate of Habsburg propaganda that celebrated his triumph in England.
21
Simon Renard may have known differently but continental observers were clearly expecting the new King to dominate his wife and to use his position in England for his own (largely international) purposes. It might be expected that Mary would have been traumatized by having sex for the fi rst time at the age of 38. Following custom, she remained secluded for a few days after the wedding but by all accounts was blissfully happy. Philip was less enchanted. From hints that were soon being dropped by his Spanish servants, he found her disappointing ‘para la sensualidad de la carne’, which may well have been the case as she was 11 years his senior and totally inexperienc
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